


The Winds of Canaan

by wildewings



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Because I can, Canon Related, Europa and Shiva are Michael and Gabriel's children, Grief/Mourning, so I will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:41:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26148094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildewings/pseuds/wildewings
Summary: When Shiva hears Michael call him from the land of Canaan, he doesn't expect her to tell him Lord Lucifer is no longer of this world. Wandering the corridors of the angels' domain, Shiva meets an archangel of vengeance devoured by grief, and finds Lucifer's beloved garden in a sorry state. Together with his fellow disciples, he takes it upon himself to honour Lucifer's memory.
Relationships: Alexiel & Shiva (Granblue Fantasy), Europa & Shiva (Granblue Fantasy), Grimnir & Shiva (Granblue Fantasy), Minor Gabriel/Michael (Granblue Fantasy), Minor Lucifer/Sandalphon (Granblue Fantasy) - Relationship, Shiva & Lucifer (Granblue Fantasy), Shiva & Sandalphon (Granblue Fantasy)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27





	The Winds of Canaan

**Author's Note:**

> I am actually not sure whether the garden is in Canaan or not ? Since it was in the Astral Research Lab and said lab and Canaan aren't the same place, but since I'm lazy and I like the name Canaan, I have decided to mash the two together. Some other liberties were taken, regarding Shiva's relationship to Michael, Gabriel and Europa mostly.  
> This takes place right after Paradise Lost.  
> I also apologise if there's any typos, I decided to go ham and post this without rereading it. No beta we die like men

“Lord Lucifer has left us."

When Shiva had first heard Michael’s beckoning from the other side of the skies, he hadn’t expected those to be the words she’d welcome him with. Five words, five words so simple and yet so odd to hear. He was fully aware of the loss the children of men experimented every day, every minute. The light behind their beloveds’ eyes grew dim, and they were left with only darkness to guide them. Perhaps he should have prepared himself to hear these words, too. And yet it wasn’t the words that hurt the most. It was the pain in these red irises, the grief that deformed Michael’s solemn face. The Primarch of Fire, his master and mother, had served under Lucifer her whole life - nay, she had been created for the sole purpose of following the harbinger of light on even the darkest of paths. Today was different, though. Today, Michael did not mourn a leader. The tears streaming down her face were for her oldest friend.

“Left us... I fear I do not understand.”

“He’s gone, Shiva.”

“How did he-”

“You needn’t ask any more questions… For we don’t know much more than that.”

Oh, Shiva could always tell when his mother lied to him. She would blink one too many times, or the wings on her head would shiver ever so slightly. But he didn’t say a thing. If Michael was hiding something from him, then she had her reasons. And whatever they were, if she believed in them then so did he.

“The one who found his body… His name is Sandalphon”, she spoke again after a while. “The… Last year, he…”

“He caused the cataclysms.”

He tried not to mention how the archangel had ripped Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel’s wings from their backs to make them his own. No matter how strong, no matter the iron will that hid behind the Four Primarchs’ smiles, the memory still brought pain to them.

“Yes, that is the one. Lucifer… Has given him the remainder of his powers, as well as his position as Supreme Primarch.”

“Sandalphon…”

He had known the name, of course he had. He knew him as not only Pandemonium’s escaped prisoner, but also as one of the Primal Beasts who had once walked down these halls. Perhaps he had even stood in this room, where a white altar of the finest marble lied in waiting. He wondered why it was there in the first place; wasn’t this normally a place where mortals would lay their loved ones to rest, so they could pay them their respects ? He knew Lord Lucifer as someone who had loved the skies and their people so dearly that he sometimes indulged in skydweller traditions - was this where he prayed, when he was faced with loss ? And if so…

“Why is this altar empty, Mother ?”

Her crimson eyes seemed to search for something to say, to no avail. And Shiva had never seen her so fragile, so vulnerable. In this frail shell of a woman he looked for the warrior who had once saved him from a life that had been nothing but fear, reject, violence. She had held this strange child close to her heart, the tip of her blazing sword reaching for the sky - and now, this tempest of scorching flames was nothing more than a tired soldier with a heart shrouded in millenia of grief. And so this time it was Shiva’s turn to hold her against him, as tender and warm as could be. Perhaps sensing Michael’s distress, Nagaraja the white serpent slid from his friend’s shoulders to wrap himself around Michael’s.

“Now, this is unusual”, she tried to chuckle.

“For you, yes.”

“What do you mean, Shiva ?”

“These eyes, Mother. These eyes.”

She once again opted to stay silent, choosing instead to let herself fall in her disciple’s arms. Shiva thought she may have been reminiscing the day she had first brought him before the Supreme Primarch.

* * *

_Where he came from, no one even knew there could be this many different kinds of flowers._

_Lucifer’s garden was a masquerade of colours. Vivid greens wrapped themselves around pristine white columns. Crimson reds danced around with blues that were midnight, that were azure, that were cerulean. Yellows as bright as the sun watched over them all, sovereigns of the purples and the oranges alike._ _T_ _here, in the midst of this whirlwind of colours, stood one small kiosk. Under its intricately carved dome, there were a simple round table, and two chairs. And on the former, two cups of a brew Shiva knew as_ _“coffee”._

Shiva.

_He quite enjoyed the name Michael had given him. The Primarch of Fire stood by his side, noble and dignified, her eyes fixed on a tall figure in the dark. And Shiva was only a child, so of course his instincts told him to hide behind his protector… And yet, when Lord Lucifer stood into the light at last, it took only one breath for Shiva to burn his fears away._

_“Lord Lucifer”, Michael greeted him. “As was promised, I have found the child of the flame… My disciple, Shiva.”_

_“Shiva… What a beautiful name. Hello, Shiva. I am Lucifer.”_

_“Your eyes, they’re like the sky”, the child then spoke without thinking._

_He feared he might have offended the man; but he was quick to smile, perhaps to try and reassure Shiva. Behind the smile however, he could sense overwhelming sorrow - a sadness so great, Lord Lucifer could have drowned all the skies in it. Who, the child wondered_ , _could hurt him so ?_ _According to Michael, Lord Lucifer was the master of the celestial world. Who could have hurt him so badly that the joy on his lips did nothing to hide the pain in his eyes ?_

_“That is quite the compliment”, Lucifer laughed before kneeling down to Shiva’s level._

_The latter appreciated the attention. Adults; they had always looked down on him. This man, he felt, was different. The way Michael had been different._

_“Tell me, Shiva… Do you love these skies ?”_

_That was such a strange question. Why wouldn’t he ? Wasn’t he one of the people living in the skies, after all ? Primal Beast or not, it didn’t matter. He was Shiva, child of the flame, and he had lived in the sky realm his whole life. The Astral realm was naught but a distant dream to him; and while he had seen the ugliness that sometimes slept in skydwellers’ hearts, it had never been enough to stop him from loving these boundless skies so full of possibilities._

_“I do”, he replied without hesitation. “I do love them.”_

_“That’s good… That’s very good. I love them too, you know.”_

_“Is it because you are the king of the skies ?”_

_The answer left the Supreme Primarch dumbfounded, and Shiva could see his m_ _aster_ _panick silently from the corner of his eye. What kind of mess was her pupil dragging her into ? Shiva had no idea, and he was ready to accept whichever punishment Lord Lucifer would see fit if the question hadn’t pleased him._

_But Lucifer laughed again._

_“I wouldn’t be so arrogant as to call myself king of anything. The skies are not meant to be ruled by any monarch, you see ? They are a place of freedom, of choice. I am merely… Hm. If you were to give me a title, I suppose I would be a knight.”_

_“A knight ?”_

_“A knight ?!” Michael exclaimed, her voice breaking a little in surprise. “Lord Lucifer, this isn’t… You are no simple knight…”_

_“Would you like the term ‘protector’ better then, Michael ?” Lucifer suggested._

_“It seems more fitting… I apologise if I have offended you.”_

_“You know you haven’t. Protector… It has a nice ring to it. Alright. I am the protector of these skies; and I protect them because I love them so dearly.”_

_“And why do you love them ? I-I apologise… if my question offends you.”_

_“It does not, Shiva. You are right to ask questions. If one never asks, how do we ever search for the Truth ?”_

_“I can see the Truth. I bear the Inner Eye.”_

_“Does that mean I’m an exception ?”_

_The thought of being special, of being apart from others, was never something that Shiva had seen bring pain to someone else. Coincidentally, this made Lucifer even more of an exception. Even the Inner Eye couldn’t see much more in his heart than the deepest melancholy, like this woman he had once met in a village. She had lost her husband during a quarrel between two bandit groups, and the children of this small hamlet had taken to calling her The Weeping Widow. A cruel, but fitting name - and it would fit Lucifer too, Shiva realised when he heard his soul cry without seeing a single tear roll down his alabaster cheek._

_“Yes.”_

_“What an honest child. I appreciate this, Shiva. Would you allow me to answer you with yet another question ?”_

_He nodded. Something told him that what was to come would haunt him for the rest of his eternal days, and yet, he couldn’t wait to hear it. Perhaps even the bearer of the Inner Eye could be on a quest for Truth._

_“Do you know what makes the sky blue ?”_

* * *

At last Michael tore herself away from his arms, and Shiva was tactful enough to look at his many hands in silence while she wiped her tears away. It’s without a single word that she made it known he could leave, right when Gabriel stepped inside the room. She had the softest smile as always, and when he walked past her, she stopped him with a tender hand on his cheek.

“I’ll take it from here.”

“Wouldn’t you rather take care of yourself ?”

“Shiva. Children shouldn’t worry about their parents. It is our role to be strong for you, not yours to act as our personal crutches… Oh, speaking of family matters. Europa should be joining us soon.

As soon as he heard the name, Shiva’s heart filled with warmth. His beloved sister, whom he hadn’t had the chance to see in more than just a few months. Gabriel had sent her to a distant skydom, too far for him to visit between two missions. It is with a thankful smile that he left the small chapel, Nagaraja curled around his shoulders again. The last he saw of his mothers was Michael weeping again in Gabriel’s loving arms.

It had been a long while since the last time Shiva had been to Canaan. The archangels’ domain was hidden within the core of a meteorological irregularity, and Primal Beast or not, there was no easy way to access it. Of all four disciples, only Grimnir could somewhat navigate the capricious skies shrouding Canaan. But even the God of War had more than once been caught by winds more tempestuous than he was, giving way to disastrous - but, the others secretly thought, hilarious - landings. As he walked down these oddly empty halls, Shiva wondered just where the two archangels of instruction he usually saw there had gone to; before he realised he was being insensitive. It was obvious that just like everybody else, Halluel and Malluel were mourning on their own. He wasn’t expecting to see Alexiel or Grimnir so early on either. Knowing the former, she had chosen to isolate herself, so she could cry in peace. The latter was more likely to have flown away the second his master had given him the news, running from Canaan, from grief, from sorrow. As for Uriel and Raphael, Shiva thought they were in bad shape, just like his mothers were. After all, the Four Primarchs had been more than just soldiers marching in Lucifer’s name. They had been his friends, his family.

The bottom line was that Shiva didn’t think he would find anybody in this place. Canaan seemed like it had been the theatre of one intense battle, if the mountains of debris the Cores were busying themselves cleaning up were any indication. His wandering brought him to two great oak doors; a room he had all but forgotten the existence of. When he stepped inside he could see the ceiling had caved in, breaking the marble columns in pieces. That was when he saw… These white ruins were where Lucifer had been laid to rest.

Or rather, what was left of him.

* * *

His head hadn’t moved from where it had fallen. If he hadn’t been so used to corpses, he would have felt sick, but the image was… Beautiful, in its own way. Lucifer’s eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted as though he had only just taken his last breath. Shiva’s steps echoed around the room, echoed through this dead silence until he knelt before the Supreme Primarch, the same way he had once knelt before him. Slowly, he reached out for him…

“Touch a single hair of his head, and yours will fall from your shoulders.”

It only took the blink of an eye for Shiva to summon in two of his hands white-hot flames, before they turned into his golden spear. Whoever the strange figure standing in the shadows of this broken pillar was, they certainly didn’t appreciate him pointing the end of his lance towards them - but Shiva appreciated them even less. How could he not have felt this presence, that exuded boundless pain and regret ? And why couldn’t he see their shape, why could he only see two crimson irises in the dark ?

“Did you not hear me”, the stranger hissed. “Step away from him.”

“Who are you ?”

“Your questions don’t matter. Step. Away. From him.”

 _Wrong answer_ , Shiva thought as an ember flickered in his palm. He sent it towards this unfathomable guardian… _And yet, when he stood in the light at last, it took only one breath for Shiva to burn his suspicions away._

“Keep your little magic tricks for skydweller taverns, disciple.”

Eyes the colour of blood. Dark bags under them, drawing deep and sharp lines where there was supposed to be softness and morning dew. And a look that was so wary that Shiva felt like he was being stabbed by countless daggers. This look, he knew, could only belong to one person in the world.

“You’re Sandalphon.”

The archangel didn’t speak a single word. Now that he had sat on one of the fallen columns, he could see him all the more clearly, with six great wings as white as snow sprouting from his back. And these white feathers, they were so familiar…

“Sir Sandalphon…”

“What do you want”, he interrupted him.

“To pay my respects to the Supreme Primarch. To Lord Lucifer.”

“Tch.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Your condolences won’t bring him back to me.”

His voice broke on the last word, and that brokenness filled Shiva to the brim with so many contradictory feelings: infinite sorrow, regrets that ate away at the mind and the heart alike, and a scorching wrath that threatened to set the vengeful angel alight. And behind all this, hidden well within the rest, a love so strong it was unbearable.

He was no stranger to Lucifer and Sandalphon’s story. Soon after the cataclysms, the Four Primarchs had called upon their disciples, and told them about the archangel that had once been created as Lucifer’s spare. They had told them about this unbreakable bond between them, the fallen angels’ initial rebellion, and the unfortunate ending the first opus of their story had come to. Lucifer had been forced to punish all of the rebels, and had had to imprison even the one he loved in Pandemonium. For two thousand years Sandalphon had planned his escape and revenge, while Lucifer’s remorse gnawed away at him. A tragic story, Shiva had thought, that had at last explained this melancholy he had always perceived in the Supreme Primarch’s eyes.

“You’re right. They won’t. But at least, I can…”

“Cremate him ? Please. Michael and you… Like mother like son, I suppose. It’s as if you think that turning him to ash is going to… Like it’s…”

His breath hitched as he tried to find words fit to end his sentence. He kept trying to say something, right before stopping himself, as though every single one of his thoughts could cost him Lucifer’s life again. And Shiva - Shiva didn’t know how to calm him down, how to help him, how to help him breathe again or promise him that Lucifer would find peace and walk into a new cycle of life. How could he, when these promises would remain empty ? Lies, and Sandalphon wouldn’t need an Inner Eye to see right through them: Shiva had no idea whether reincarnation applied to Primals, let alone to Primarchs.

So, Shiva did exactly what Sandalphon had warned him against. He took Lucifer’s head in his hands, staring straight at the mourning angel.

“L… Let him go…!” he managed to say in between his coughs.

It didn’t stop him from soaring high from his seat, and rushing to the much taller Primal Beast. Taking advantage from his strong wings, Sandalphon grabbed him by the collar, his feet floating a good thirty centimeters above ground. But all Shiva could see in these crazed eyes was a call for help, and help was all Shiva wanted to do.

“You have been made the guardian of Lucifer’s legacy”, he spoke in a thundering voice. His hands grasped Sandalphon’s wrists as firmly as they could. “Don’t you think he deserves a proper burial ? If you won’t give it to him, I will dig his grave myself.”

“A grave… Hah.”

It was unexpected, to hear him laugh like this. A laugh that echoed through the room, as though he had never stopped. Yet his look grew dim, lost. He descended towards the floor, and laughter became prayer, cries muffled by a gloved hand.

“Why would I sentence Lucifer… He loved the sky so much… Why would I sentence him to rest below the ground ? How would he look at… this blue…”

“And so, Sir Sandalphon. What will you make of this relic ?”

The red-eyed angel didn’t answer. Instead, he took back Lucifer’s head from Shiva’s hands, and headed without a word towards the chapel where the disciple had left his mothers. He chose not to follow, unsure of what Sandalphon’s reaction would be. He was unstable, full of conflicting and intense emotions.

He took one last look at this room filled with regret. Perhaps he was looking for something, for someone. He had expected to maybe see _him_ , in the very place he had lost his life. But there was no one waiting there.

“The garden”, Shiva muttered at last, as he allowed sorrow to guide his steps.

* * *

It hadn’t yet been two days since Lucifer had passed away. His garden should have lived on, with is dream-like colours Shiva had always marvelled at. But, he soon found, the garden was mourning too. The vines, the flowers, the trees had all withered away; they left the ground buried under a dull carpet of brown leaves. Even the once beautiful dome had started to crumble. The table hadn’t moved an inch, and neither had one of the chairs, although it was now covered in dust and gravel. The other chair however had fallen to the ground, two of its legs lying a little further in. Shiva felt like a complete stranger amidst this chaos. It was as though he had just stepped inside the heart of a dead man. Nevertheless, he walked towards the kiosk: maybe he could clean it up, fix the chair... _Crack !_ He felt something break under his foot. A piece of white china, which no doubt used to be one of Lucifer’s cups. He remembered the Supreme Primarch offering him to join him for his coffee break once, but Shiva had only been a child back then, and he had despised the brew’s bitter taste. Ah yes, now he could also recall Michael admonishing him for his attitude, hiding her laughter behind her reprimands. Lucifer himself had laughed, apologised, and offered him so freshly pressed orange juice instead. Standing there, lost in his memories, reminded him of a thought he once had.

_“The Supreme Primarch sure spends a lot of time in his garden… Does he ever drink something besides the brown bitter thing ?”_

_“Coffee, Shiva”, Gabriel had corrected him. “And well… You see, Lord Lucifer is waiting for his dear friend to come back home.”_

_“His friend ? Aren’t you and mom and Uncle Raphael and Uncle Uriel his friends already ?”_

_“Ahah. We are, but this… This is a little different.”_

He hadn’t really understood back then, and hadn’t tried to either. Maybe he should have had. Only a thousand years later did he finally meet this mysterious friend Lucifer had waited for all this time.

“This garden”, he whispered, hoping that perhaps his words could revive it.

“It used to be so beautiful.”

She had always had a knack for appearing out of thin air, and he turned around with a sigh he could barely conceal. Her back to one of the white pillars, Europa stared silently at the ground, and Shiva didn’t need to look at her reddened eyes and nose to know she had been crying. Just like him, just like Alexiel and Grimnir, she had grown attached to Lord Lucifer - he had been family to them. But the family that mattered for now was the one standing right in front of him, and he opened his arms wide once again for her to run into.

“I still cannot believe this, you know”, she managed to say between two sobs. “How could such a tragedy… Did Michael tell you anything about this ?”

“The things she knows, she hasn’t shared.”

He felt her tense up in his arms, and the air suddenly grew colder, colder, colder… Until he heard a loud cracking noise. Hoarfrost had started spreading on the ground, cloistering the dead leaves in a silver coffin.

“Europa.”

She had inherited this bad habit from their mother. Gabriel too had a slight tendency of freezing everything that had the audacity of angering her - yes, his mother and sister were warm, loving and caring, but Shiva had learnt in time that their wrath was to be feared.

“Whoever did this… We cannot allow their existence within these skies. I’m a healer, but…”

“Europa, this garden is in bad enough shape already.”

A small flame emerged from one of his hands, and he sent it away to dance amidst the frozen garden. But then, the flame was caught in a stream of hot air, and flew all the way up… to Grimnir’s own palm. He was sitting on the edge of the roof, just above the two siblings.

“Grimnir !” Europa exclaimed. “I thought… I didn’t think we would see you here today.”

“Huh ? Oh, yeah… I just wanted to, you know. Say goodbye to Lord Lucifer.”

Grief didn’t fit him. Shiva and Europa knew Raphael’s disciple as an enthusiastic, loud and quirky young Primal - but he now was about as talkative as any one of the dead trees surrounding them. Still, he stood back up, and flew down to meet them, with a grace that Shiva couldn’t help but compare to Sandalphon’s rashness and unbridled fury earlier.

“Actually, I… I don’t really know why I’m h-here”, Grimnir stammered when he was finally face to face with his two friends. “I-I don’t like this place. I mean, I did. I loved it, back when it… Back when it was…”

More silent panic, more trying to find the right words, and Grimnir had always been so good with words.

“Alive”, Europa finished for him.

Red and green irises grew blurry behind the tears, and Grimnir sobbed once, sobbed twice, until his entire body shook under the weight of his sorrow. Shiva felt utterly powerless. He was the Supreme Destroyer of Blight, and yet at the end of the day, neither his sister nor him could hope to relieve Grimnir of his burden... Him, or even themselves. So the two did the one thing they knew they could. Shiva stroked Raphael’s disciple’s head with that kindness only family was privy to, while Europa embraced him.

“Y-You know…” Grimnir’s voice was now a husky whisper, so different from his usual cheer. “I just think about how… We once swore it, didn’t we ? We once swore we would serve him, when…”

“When the time came for the Four Primarchs to retire ?”

“Yeah… But we… Where were we, Europa ? He treated us like family… Where were we on that day, when family needed us most ?”

The siblings had no answer for him. Shiva himself couldn’t even remember. And even when Grimnir finally managed to calm down, after several minutes of heart-shattering sobbing, he still couldn’t remember.

“May I… May I see his body ?”

“I think you would rather not.” Shiva snapped out of his trance. “Sandalphon has it, and…”

“Oh, no need to say any more than that. He… His grief, I will not disturb. I just hope I can get the chance to, to say goodbye.”

“Of course, Grimnir. Say, while we wait for Sandalphon to let us pay or respects, how about we… Hm.”

Ah, Shiva knew that expression of hers. He knew it all too well.

“What are you thinking about, Europa ?”

“Was I that obvious…?”

One nod to tell her she was, and she laughed softly before exposing her whole plan to her fellow disciples. It was an idea that was undoubtedly Europa’s; an idea so full of kindness, of love, of beauty, that it brought some more tears to Grimnir’s eyes. He was quick to wipe them away though, and volunteered to go search for Alexiel. Knowing her, she could only be in her quarters and although she was closest with Europa, the only disciple who could ever hope of getting her out of her shell whenever she felt miserable was Grimnir. On his end though, Shiva started gathering the shattered porcelain that had been scattered across the garden, and put back in place whatever dishes had miraculously survived the chaos.

When Grimnir came back with Alexiel in tow, the red-haired warrior looked furious. She was obviously embarrassed that she’d been found crying.

“What is the meaning of this ?” she groaned when Grimnir let go of her hand. “Can I not grieve in peace…”

“Alexiel.” There was a fondness in Europa’s voice, and Uriel’s disciple seemed to relax ever so slightly. “Instead of drowning in your sorrow, will you come and help us ? We won’t feel any better if we all retreat to our rooms to cry.”

“And you are absolutely correct ! I, the great Grimnir, the Mad Cyclone, will assist you and Shiva in your grand quest !”

“A quest”, Alexiel said measuredly. “Shiva ?”

“Yes ?”

“Are you a part of this quest Grimnir speaks of ?”

There was something unnerving about the way Alexiel, on whom Shiva knew he could rely more than any other, looked up to him. The four of them had always been a bit of an odd group. Alexiel had the strength and iron will of a true general, and Shiva had always figured that when the time came, she would be the one leading them into battle. Yet she had this strong sense of honour and duty, and had once confessed that since he was Michael’s disciple, he should be the one to guide them. Shiva however knew he was not one to take the helm; he still had a lot to learn, and had trouble making his intentions clear when he spoke. Grimnir had the same problem. Europa on the other hand was far too soft, and while it was one of her greatest strengths, she also acknowledged it as a potential weakness in the face of danger. All these different factors made Alexiel the perfect leader, and yet she still doubted herself and turned to Shiva to know what to do… And she was definitely caught by surprise when he nodded.

Shiva had never been much good with irony, but it wasn’t lost on him this time. Giving life again to a dead man’s garden: such was Europa’s great project. More than a cruel joke however, the four disciples knew it to be the best hommage they could pay Lord Lucifer, which was why Alexiel ended up giving in with a sigh. Her heavy broadsword was put down with care, right next to Grimnir’s spear.

* * *

_Now that_ , Shiva thought, _paints one soothing picture._ He had sat down on the ground, and was trying to fix the broken chair. For the Four Primarch’s pupils to reunite in this garden, wanting to rebuild rather than to destroy… Of course, they were the protectors of the skies, just as much as their parents were, but that also meant they were more used to fighting off threats than to gardening. They didn’t give up though, which made Shiva’s chest swell with pride and love for his fellow disciples. Although, he would feel even prouder to fix this chair. When she noticed him having trouble with his task, Europa joined his side, and after some more trial and error, they finally got it right.

“Now you can add ‘carpenter’ to your resume”, she joked.

“My resume ?”

“It’s a skydweller thing ! I hear they hand out sheets of paper where they write down their professional experiences when looking for jobs. It seems very handy !”

“Do you think us disciples should have resumes too, Europa ?”

“Why should we ?” Alexiel asked as she effortlessly lifted a very, very large rock off the ground. “Our paths are laid out for us already.”

“I just thought it might be fun to try and live among skydwellers for a while, someday !”

“Oh, oh, maybe we could join a skyfarer’s crew !” Grimnir excitedly added. “Flying across the endless blue, saving widows and orphans, carrying precious cargo for various merchants… Doesn’t it sound amusing ?”

They started theorizing on the lives they would lead, hiding among skydwellers. Obviously Shiva would have to conceal his purple skin and extra arms, for they weren’t certain that skydwellers were used to such a sight. Lord Lucifer would have certainly enjoyed hearing Alexiel and Grimnir debate on how they would live their skyfarer lives, while Europa thought aloud about a peaceful life by the seashore. Time passed much faster from there on, and it felt like they were done clearing away all the rubble in the blink of an eye; once this was taken care of, Alexiel took her sword in her hands once again. Grimnir’s smile slipped from his face as fast as Nagaraja could slip from Shiva’s shoulders.

“We could just grab a shovel and dig”, he tried to suggest, his voice shaking a little. “I don’t really, ah, trust Alex with all the delicate stuff.”

“Want my mirror-blades to check your own lack of delicacy, Grimnir ?” she groaned back, her tone indignant.

“Th-That’s not what I meant ! Of course you’re very talented and, and you’re great ! You really are, you know I’m your number one fan ! B-But, if you just try to open one small crevasse, there’s still a chance that you’ll end up destroying all of Canaan and, oh no I did it again didn’t I… I-I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, I’m just…!”

“It’s okay, Grimnir. I was just teasing you”, she sighed, although a smile did warm her face. “Although, if you’re that scared I’ll sink this island, you can just fly away, can’t you ?”

He took her at her word, which made Europa giggle and Alexiel roll her eyes. The white-haired Primal was floating just a dozen meters above ground, an apprehensive look on his beautiful face. The Divine Protector raised her sword to the skies.

“With this blade, I shall tear asunder this holy land that saw the coming of my lord ! In his name, I will protect these skies he held so dear. As a parting gift, Lord Lucifer, I offer you this garden.”

Shiva braced himself for impact, but the tip of Alexiel’s sword barely grazed the ground… And yet, the earth started rumbling like an angry beast awakening from a deep slumber. A small crack appeared, and it grew larger and larger, until it started moving of its own free will. It ran across the garden, circled the still-grey kiosk, avoided the wilted flowerbeds to flawlessly seam a pattern onto Canaan’s very fabric.

“Europa !”

“I’ve got this”, she smiled. “O, divine streams of the starry heavens ! Run unbridled in these riverbeds we offer you ! Bless us with your many miracles, and return this place to its past splendor !”

Thousands of drops rose all around the young woman, and a thousand more fell from the clouds as though they, too, had been grieving the loss of the Supreme Primarch. Shiva knew this spectacle would stay engraved in his eternal memory forever and always: the water danced around their mistress, gathering and parting ways, until they went and filled the cracks Alexiel had created. They enjoyed for a second the gentle noise of water running in their newly made canals.

“Is it my turn yet ?” Grimnir asked from above, excited as a puppy. “It’s my turn, right ?”

“Yes it is”, Europa chuckled. “Be my guest !”

“Eheh… I have been waiting for this all day… More like all afternoon, actually… Well, let’s just say I have been waiting for more than a couple hours and-”

“Get to your point, Grimnir !” Alexiel shouted at him without even trying to conceal her smile.

“Ahem ! You are perfectly right, disciple of the Trembling Ground ! I, Grimnir the Great… Wait no, can we start over ? I can do way better than that.”

“Grimnir ! We haven’t got all day, alright ?!”

“Ah, there, I’ve got it ! Let’s see…” He coughed once, twice. “The time has come for me to bring back to life these sorrowful gardens ! Fear not, my dearest, for my divine right hand shall now be loosed from its proscription ! Watch as the darkness cradling Canaan fades away in the face of my howling winds ! Waltz away, and hear the call of the Dancing Whirlwind - for I, Grimnir, the invincible God of War, has come !”

“Bravo, Grimnir !” Europa applauded from below. “You managed to say all of that without biting your own tongue !”

“That was _one_ time !” the now very embarrassed God of War protested. “A-And besides, I wasn’t finished !”

“You weren’t ?” There was an obvious surprise in Shiva’s voice that didn’t escape Europa and Alexiel, and they both chuckled at this.

“Ugh, no ! Uh… Where was I… Right. Engrave this upon thy heart, caged typhoon of righteousness ! Today is the day I free you of the yoke of… of… Ah. I. I forgot my line. Umm, anyway, this isn’t all that important, I’m here to honour Lord Lucifer and that’s what matters !”

With his right arm aimed at the stars, he ordered Canaan’s winds to gather in one whirling tempest, which he then directed without a hint of hesitation towards the dark clouds surrounding the island.

“Fly, my divine soldiers ! Pierce the veil of darkness that encloses this holy place !”

The winds heeded the call of their master, and just like the latter’s merciless spear, they tore through the thick clouds so that at last, Lucifer’s garden was bathed in sunlight again. Lost raindrops turned into a thin pour, falling onto the dying roses and lilies and chrysantheums.

“Grimnir now walks away… Comes the great Shiva, disciple of the All-Seeing Embers !”

“Master”, Shiva corrected him. “Master of the All-Seeing Embers.”

And, just this once, Shiva managed to shut Grimnir up. He gave himself a pat on the back and silently promised he would apologise to his friend later. With just a flick of his wrist, he summoned his own lance, and held it in front of him with two of his hands.

“Unsparing flames of the Great Purifier”, his thundering voice echoed. “May your light bless this forgotten garden ! Banish death from this place, return life where it has been taken !”

At these words, two flaming orbs of the purest white appeared in his empty palms. He had them float upwards, while simultaneously twirling around his lance with a movement so fluid he could feel the other three disciples growing more and more speechless by the minute.

“I ask you not to return to ash the old to give birth to the new. I beg of you, become the pillars of this newfound past !”

One of the orbs then flew to the top of the roof, and remained there for a few moments. It seemed that perhaps Shiva’s spell had failed; but then it split itself into hundreds of rays of light, and they hit each flower, each agonizing leaf, each dying blade of grass. Right in front of the bewildered Primals - even Shiva’s, for whom this was more an experiment than it was routine -, the flora grew colourful again. It seemed impossible, for all known laws of nature wouldn’t allow such a wide garden to come back to life so fast. And yet there it was: Lucifer’s garden, and its thousands of colours full of memories.

The second orb hovered above the kiosk. Just like the previous one, there was a split second where nothing happened. But soon enough, another flame appeared by its side, followed by another and yet another and a dozen more, until the cupola was circled with white flames. They all hit the small kiosk’s columns, and all the cracks and dirt disappeared behind blinding white marble. The broken coffee cups they had so awkwardly put back together, the chair they had fixed and the one that didn’t need fixing, the table, they all shone again as though their owner still took care of the place.

It was the same garden as the one Shiva had met Lord Lucifer in, and yet, it felt… It was different. This garden was…

“What the everloving _fuck_ is going on here ?!”

_Uh oh._

* * *

“Uriel ! Not in front of the children !”

“If they have managed such a feat all by themselves, Gabriel, I fear they’re not fit to be called children anymore.”

“Hey, wait a second Raphael, why are you defending them ?!” Uriel protested again.

“Why not ? They did a good job.”

“This garden belongs to Lucifer”, Michael growled. “This… They have disrespected the Supreme Primarch.”

“Mother”, Europa then smiled, walking towards the Four Primarchs. “I apologise if the idea has offended you. It was mine, I will take full responsibility. You can punish me how you see fit. However, I don’t think we did anything wrong…”

“L-Lord Raphael”, Grimnir stammered, a little sheepishly. “I-I agree with Europa, we only had the best intentions…”

“I know that. You did well. It’s not easy to clear the skies of Canaan. I’m certain the plants are very grateful, too.”

To anybody else, Raphael’s monotone voice would have made it sound like an insult, but Grimnir’s eyes filled with tears again. He had always been an emotional one, but his most revered master’s high praise was on a whole other level. The Primarch of Wind’s gentle smile didn’t escape anybody’s gaze, but after a few centuries, they had all learnt the hard way that they were better off not telling him. Instead, Europa winked at Grimnir, and patted his head to congratulate him.

“Alexiel ? Anything you have to say for yourself ?”

“I have nothing to add, Master. Europa and Grimnir said it all. We only had the best of intentions. Lord Lucifer loved this place so deeply, and leaving the garden in ruins was simply…”

She hesitated, searching for the right word to use.

“Unworthy of his memory”, Shiva completed. “How can we honour the memory of the Supreme Primarch if we content ourselves with holding onto the ruins he left behind ?”

“Shiva”, Michael frowned.

“Mother. I sincerely believe that Lord Lucifer would have liked to see this place alive again after his passing. Don’t you agree ?”

“I… Of course.”

“Uriel ?”

“I know you kids are right”, he sighed, “but the truth is… Well, I’d have liked to help with everyone else, you know.”

Uriel’s confession left a surprised silence in its wake as Michael, Gabriel and even Raphael all stared at him, a dumbfounded expression on their face. The first to snap out of it was Gabriel, who simply hugged him. Then, Raphael, who was shaking his head to try and hide his smile as he gave his comrade a pat on the shoulder. The great general of all Primarchs, however, remained silent. She looked around her, stepped into this once so familiar garden that now looked completely foreign. Shiva could only begin to imagine how she felt: perhaps she had wanted to leave the garden as it was, to convince herself that Lucifer would one day return, and revive it himself. He knew that the Supreme Primarch would have only needed a second to bless again this place that was so dear to his heart.

Michael walked around a little longer, circling the kiosk, staring at the sunrays reflecting in the canals with barely concealed amazement. Then she looked at the flowers, at the raindrops resting on the now vivid green leaves.

“This is excellent work”, she spoke at last. “I think… Lord Lucifer would be delighted to see what you’ve done with Eden.”

“So this is this place’s name.”

“Indeed, Alexiel”, Raphael nodded. “The Garden of Eden… Lucifer once called it a holy place.”

“I thought all of Canaan was sacred ?” Europa intervened.

“No, only Eden is. It has another name, though… It seems I’ve forgotten it.”

“Oh, Raphael, you really are a forgetful one”, Gabriel smiled. “This garden… Lord Lucifer called it Eden, the land of return.”

_The land of return._

Shiva knew then there was one last thing he had to do.

“Mother. Have you seen Sandalphon ?”

* * *

“What do you want from me, disciple ?”

The archangel of revenge was indeed in the chapel he had ruthlessly chased Michael and Gabriel from earlier. He had left Lucifer’s head on the white marble altar, and had once again made himself into its guardian. Sandalphon himself however had gone and perched inside a small alcove where there most certainly once had been a statue. Either it had fallen during the battle of Canaan, or the new Supreme Primarch had dislodged it without asking for its opinion.

“I want to show you something.”

“Hah. Go play your games elsewhere. I don’t care about-”

“When will you stop running away ?” Shiva interrupted him.

The sound of a wing flapping.

“Running away ?!” spat Sandalphon as he once again took advantage of his ability to fly to look down on Shiva.

The thought would have made the Primal laugh if the archangel hadn’t been so frightening to look at. His crimson eyes peered through his every cell without mercy - but weren’t they just a little redder than they had been earlier ? If Shiva looked closely, he could see on Sandalphon’s cheeks the faint traces wiped tears always leave behind them.

“You won’t allow yourself to cremate or bury this relic of Lucifer’s out of sheer denial. You refuse to admit he has left us.”

“Shut up.”

“You claim you have found his body and inherited his will… You were there for his last breath, weren’t you ?”

“You know nothing. You’re… You’re just...”

“I’m sorry, Sandalphon. I am so sorry you could never tell him how much you love him.”

There was a loud clack on the ground as Sandalphon’s heels hit the marble tiles of the chapel. All of a sudden, the archangel looked so much weaker. He had his head down, his frail shoulders slouched under the weight of six perfectly white wings…

“But you must stop running. You have to face reality, you have to understand…”

“Don’t speak as though I understand nothing.” A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “I know, of course I know.”

One step backward, two steps toward the altar.

“Two thousand years… It took me two thousand years to break free of Pandemonium. And… When finally, Lucifer comes to punish me, I fall in this deep slumber. When I wake up… The very second when I wake up, I hear his voice calling. And all that he’s left behind for me is a duty… A new power… A wish, and a question.”

Shiva speaks no word. He fears that if he does, Sandalphon will close the door again, and go back to locking himself up in his own head.

The archangel delicately cups Lucifer’s face in his hands, perhaps hoping that he can answer him.

“What makes the sky blue ?” he muttered. “Perhaps a question is really just a wish. Lucifer… It’s you. The reason why these skies are the azure shade of freedom… Is you. But my question for you, Lucifer, is… Why is the sky still blue, when you’re no longer here to protect it ?”

When his breath hitched, the wide white wings on his back curled themselves around him, as though they were trying to comfort him, as though the archangel was guarding himself from the truth Lucifer had left him with. For a little while, there was nothing but silence in the air. Shiva knew that he was conversing with the memory of Lucifer that still remained in this relic, for Sandalphon at least. Then, he seized it in his hands, and held it against his chest.

“What did you want to show me, disciple ?”

“Shiva.”

“Huh ?”

“My name is Shiva. I am Michael’s disciple.”

“... Shiva. What did you want to show me ?”

“Please follow me, Sandalphon.”

* * *

“I know where you’re leading me, Shiva”, the archangel groaned as soon as he recognised the halls they walked through. “What do you want me to do there ?”

He didn’t answer, and simply guided him through the labyrinth that was Canaan. When they turned a corner however, they could see the garden - and Sandalphon stopped dead in his tracks.

“No.”

“Sandalphon.”

“This garden… You…”

If the disciple of fire was willing to wait as long as his unlikely companion needed to enter Eden, it was not the case of Grimnir, who was waving at them enthusiastically from the garden’s entrance.

“Shiva ! You found him !”

“... And what is this ?”

“This _person_ ”, Shiva insisted, “is Grimnir. He is Raphael’s disciple.”

Sandalphon’s grimace was the only answer he was given, but it seemed enough to convince him. Holding even more tightly onto Lucifer’s head, he let out a resigned sigh and took one step, then another, toward this garden he seemed to dread more than anything else.

“Sandalphon”, Gabriel greeted him with a smile. If Shiva knew her, she hadn’t forgiven him for chasing her and Michael out of the chapel, but was making an effort to please her children.

“Gabriel.”

“I see you have brought Lucifer’s hea… His body.” Michael’s clumsy remark earned her a glare, and she looked like she was about to glare back, until Sandalphon’s head dropped.

“I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

It was nothing but a whisper, that only the two Primarchs and Shiva could hear… And he hated that he could. He despised being only a witness to this tragic story; perhaps he could at least offer its protagonist a slightly happier ending.

Said protagonist’s lost gaze wandered everywhere around him, like a lost child looking for directions. This garden had once been familiar to him, and yet, it must have felt utterly unknown now. He had spent most, if not all of his first years of existence in this place. Coming back two thousand years later must have been a peculiar feeling.

“You… revived this garden.”

He was doing his best not to let any emotion come through his voice, but Shiva knew better. He did, because he could see the whirlwind of conflicting feelings surrounding him: melancholy, nostalgia, hopelessness, wrath, dread, heartache, love.

“Lucifer”, he scoffed. “He probably didn’t even bother with the gardening once I was gone, am I wrong ?”

“Absolutely”, Uriel nodded. “Lord Lucifer spent most of his time in there, actually.”

Surprise, happiness, anger, chagrin, insecurity, love.

“I… He did ?”

“He did. And he gave it a name”, Raphael added.

“A name…”

“Eden, the land of return.”

Fear, despair, uncertainty, hope, love.

“The… Land of return ? Eden…”

The words danced in the air when Sandalphon spoke them, and all of a sudden the head in his arms started glowing, as did his wings.

“Wh-What’s happening now ?!”

“Calm down, Sandy”, Gabriel smiled. “I think I know what this is.”

“Don’t call me that !”

“I think Lord Lucifer might have cast a spell on this garden”, she continued without listening to the other archangel.

“Oh, I understand now !” Europa then exclaimed. “Lord Lucifer… All these years, he took care of the garden hoping that someday…”

“Hoping that someday his dear friend would come back home”, Grimnir muttered. “That’s what he used to say… That he would someday show this garden to the one he missed the most.”

Confusion, pain, sorrow, love.

“So he cast a spell on Eden ? What for ?” Alexiel asked.

“So that when the time comes, he could free himself from his pain. So that when at last Sandalphon came back to Canaan, when he took Lucifer’s hand again and stepped in Eden with him… His heart would know peace.”

“Peace… Ahah… Ahahah…”

Relief, desperation, love. His laugh turned once again into uncontrolled sobs, and the once terrifying archangel of vengeance went back to being one simple, grieving young man. Slowly, Lucifer’s head grew translucent; Sandalphon’s breath hitched, and in his panic, he tried desperately to make it tangible again, to no avail. His six wings still shone brighter than the sun, and soon enough, Lucifer’s relic turned into a thousand golden lights, dancing towards the sky as Sandalphon’s legs finally gave way beneath his body.

“Lucifer… Our guiding light. Lucifer…”

Love… And while the Primarchs and disciples watched Lucifer’s last gift light up the skies with boundless blue, it was the kiosk that caught Shiva’s eye.

Sitting on the chair he had fixed with Europa, Lucifer drank a cup of coffee. After one sip, he looked at the disciple of fire, and gave him his usual warm smile. Then, he turned to Sandalphon. The angel wept, calling his name over and over. Lucifer’s smile then grew a little sad, and filled with regret.

“He will need all the support he can get.”

“I know.”

“I can always count on you, Shiva. And…”

He stood up, and went to kneel beside Sandalphon. The young man’s eyes grew wide and he froze, as though he could feel his presence - as far as Shiva knew, this was not possible, but there were so many mysteries he had yet to uncover, weren’t there ? Lucifer’s arms gently embraced the crying angel, and he held him as close as he could.

“Lucifer…?” Sandalphon breathed, his hands searching for a ghost’s.

“Thank you, Shiva. Thank you for bringing my Sandalphon home to me.”

His translucent silhouette at last turned into a myriad of white petals, and flew away with the winds of Canaan.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading The Winds of Canaan ! It was fun writing the disciples, although I'm fairly sure some moments are OOC. I still hope you liked it !  
> This fic was actually inspired by my dear friend's amazing one-shot collection on the disciples. And I would LOVE to tag her, but she hasn't made an AO3 account yet.... Will edit this when she does !
> 
> I would love to know what you think so don't hesitate to leave a comment ! If you wanna catch me on twitter, do look up @wilde_arts ! And have the nicest day <3


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